Monty Osewald – The Power of Now

Monty Osewald’s The Power Of Now is an exhibition of paintings and prints from the past thirty years. Many aspects of the original prints have been re-energised and re-imagined to create new works.

 In this exhibition we have a diversity of works; resin and fibreglass paintings from 1989 in Geelong, his oil paintings made when a guest artist at the Dresden Academy of the Arts 1991-96, and recent hybrid prints produced using the polymergravure process at Baldessin Press, St Andrews 2021-22.

 The people and locations that have inspired the works are particular to Osewald’s journey as he moves elements through time and space to create idiosyncratic tableau in a range of media. Close inspection of his works reveal stylistic and thematic tendencies, not least his ability to surprise and confront, sometimes in unsettling ways.

 The paintings from Dresden are monumental in size, produced mainly on paper as immediate and spontaneous reactions to what lay in front of him – his boots on a chair in the living room or his painting table in the studio. Osewald also interprets the art that impressed him in galleries and includes representations of significant landmarks seen in his travels throughout Europe.

 Osewald does not stand still. He likes to experiment with different artforms. In recent work, he has turned to new printmaking processes, supported and guided by leading printmakers Dianne Longley, Agave Print Studio and Silvi Glattauer and Tess Edwards at the Baldessin Press studio.

This exhibition looks to the past to create layers of meaning in new works, offering a juxtaposition of past and present experiences. Osewald has revived and remodelled what there was, to create a powerful new Now.